Today’s “Joint Statement on Climate, Energy, and Arctic Leadership” by President Obama and Canada’s new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, contained lots of welcome environmental commitments, particularly on curbing emissions of methane leaking from existing oil and gas infrastructure. They pledged to cut such emissions 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025 from the oil and gas sector.

To the naked eye, no emissions from an oil storage tank are visible. But viewed with an infrared lens, escaping methane is evident.Credit U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Years of additional monitoring and analysis have been done since, as Gina McCarthy, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in a related blog post today:

The new data show that methane emissions are substantially higher than we previously understood. So, it’s time to take a closer look at regulating existing sources of methane emissions.

And, today, President Obama committed to doing just that. E.P.A. will begin developing regulations for methane emissions from existing oil and gas sources. We will start this work immediately to address methane from existing sources. We intend to work swiftly, and will involve stakeholders in meaningful ways, as we have been doing all along.

The problem, of course, is that — at least in the United States — action could have come much sooner. (Trudeau can point to the woeful environmental record of his predecessor, Stephen Harper, to explain any lag in Canada.)

Jonas Kron, of Trillium Asset Management, an investment firm focused on profitable but responsible ventures, hailed the move, noting that his firm and other investors have been pressing for industry to cut such emissions. “Now is not the time for industry and its trade associations to fight this initiative,” he said. “Now is the time for them to become part of the solution.”

But Mark Brownstein, who leads analysis of the oil and gas sector at the Environmental Defense Fund, warned that such commitments are only as good as the actions that follow. “Obviously there are many miles to go before Canada and the U.S. make good on the joint commitment today,” he told me. “But this clearly puts the issue of oil-and-gas methane on a whole new level. With two of the world’s largest oil and gas producing countries moving ahead toward a 45-percent reduction, it sets a mark for other oil and gas nations to meet.”

Here are the details from the White House website:

Building on a history of working together to reduce air emissions, Canada and the U.S., commit to take action to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, the world’s largest industrial methane source, in support of achieving our respective international climate change commitments. To set us on an ambitious and achievable path, the leaders commit to reduce methane emissions by 40-45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025 from the oil and gas sector, and explore new opportunities for additional methane reductions. The leaders also invite other countries to join the target or develop their own methane reduction goal. To achieve this target, both countries commit to:

Regulate existing sources of methane emissions in the oil and gas sector:

– The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin developing regulations for methane emissions from existing oil and gas sources immediately and will move as expeditiously as possible to complete this process. Next month, EPA will start a formal process to require companies operating existing methane emissions sources to provide information to assist in development of comprehensive standards to decrease methane emissions.

– Environment and Climate Change Canada will also regulate methane emissions from new and existing oil and gas sources. Environment and Climate Change Canada will move, as expeditiously as possible, to put in place national regulations in collaboration with provinces/territories, Indigenous Peoples and stakeholders. Environment and Climate Change Canada intends to publish an initial phase of proposed regulations by early 2017.

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By 2050 or so, the human population is expected to pass nine billion. Those billions will be seeking food, water and other resources on a planet where humans are already shaping climate and the web of life. Dot Earth was created by Andrew Revkin in October 2007 -- in part with support from a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship -- to explore ways to balance human needs and the planet's limits.